Collection information management server and collection information management method

• US 20030009383A1
• Filed: 04/22/2002
• Published: 01/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Mori, Hiromi, Yamaguchi, Kotaro, Shiba, Rikio
• Granted Patent: US 7,136,831 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/22
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5079 for maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/553 Monitoring or warning means for exhaustion or lifetime end of consumables, e.g. indication of insufficient copy sheet quantity for a job
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00109 Remote control of apparatus, e.g. by a host
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00987 Remanufacturing, i.e. reusing or recycling parts of the image forming apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00344 with a management, maintenance, service or repair apparatus monitoring H04N1/00002

Abstract

Collection status and delivery status of recoverable products are stored in a database in association with a plurality of suppliers, and unitarily managed at a collection center. Collection/delivery information associated with identification information transmitted from a terminal is returned as required.

Claims

1. A management server for unitarily managing collection information of office products associated with a plurality of suppliers, said management server comprising:

management means for managing collection information of a plurality of office products for each of the plurality of suppliers;

input means for inputting identification information identifying one of the plurality of suppliers, transmitted from an external information processing apparatus via a predetermined communication link;

extracting means for extracting collection information associated with the identification information input via said input means; and

reporting means for reporting the collection information extracted by said extracting means to said information processing apparatus via the predetermined communication link.

2. A management server according to claim 1, further comprising determination means for determining whether the collection information has reached a predetermined condition, wherein said reporting means reports the collection information to a pre-registered destination if said determination means determines that the collection information has reached the predetermined condition.

3. A management server according to claim 2, wherein said determination means determines whether the collection information has reached the predetermined condition for each type of office products.

4. A management server according to claim 2, further comprising:

setting screen providing means for transmitting setting screen information for setting the predetermined condition to said information processing apparatus via the predetermined communication link; and

storing means for receiving information regarding the predetermined condition via the predetermined communication link, the information regarding the predetermined condition being specified via a screen displayed on a display unit of said information processing apparatus based on the setting screen information, and for storing the information regarding the predetermined condition in a database;

wherein said storing means stores the information regarding the predetermined condition for each of the plurality of suppliers, and said reporting means reports collection information on the basis of the information regarding the predetermined condition for each of the plurality of suppliers.

5. A management server according to claim 4, wherein the information regarding the predetermined condition is set for each type of office products on the setting screen displayed based on the setting screen information, and said storing means stores the information regarding the predetermined condition for each type of office products in the database via the predetermined communication link.

6. A management server according to claim 5, wherein the type of office products include information regarding a type of recycling process, said extracting means extracts collection information for each type of recycling process, and said reporting means reports the extracted collection information to said information processing apparatus via the predetermined communication link.

7. A management server according to claim 1, wherein said reporting means reports collection information to said information processing apparatus via the predetermined communication link in response to a request for the collection information from said information processing apparatus transmitted via the predetermined communication link.

8. A management server according to claim 1, further comprising:

request screen providing means for providing request screen information for allowing setting of a collection request to a second information processing apparatus communicatively linked to said management server via a predetermined communication link; and

receiving means for receiving, via the predetermined communication link, a request for collecting office products set via a request setting screen displayed on a display unit of said second information processing apparatus based on the request screen information.

9. A management server according to claim 8, wherein said reporting means reports collection information to said information processing apparatus with the collection request received by said receiving means included in the collection information.

10. A management server according to claim 8, further comprising associating means for associating the collection request with one of the plurality of suppliers and storing in the database, wherein said extracting means extracts collection schedule for the supplier associated with the identification information input via said input means, and said reporting means reports collection information to said information processing apparatus with the collection schedule included in the collection information.

11. A management server according to claim 8, further comprising record management means for managing first collection record information for each user and second collection record information for each supplier, wherein the identification information input via said input means includes information regarding the identity of a user requesting a collection in addition to information regarding the identity of a supplier, and said reporting means selects the first collection record information or the second collection record information according to the identification information input via said input means and reports collection information with the selected record information included therein via the predetermined communication link.

12. A management server according to claim 8, further comprising:

scheduling means for determining a collection schedule in response to a collection request received from said second information processing apparatus; and

notification means for notifying said second information processing apparatus of the collection schedule determined by said scheduling means.

13. A management server according to claim 12, wherein said scheduling means determines a collection schedule based on a request from said second information processing apparatus and requests from a plurality of information processing apparatuses, and said notification means notifies said second information processing apparatus of the collection schedule thus determined.

14. A management server according to claim 1, further comprising classification means for reading a supplier code for identifying an associated supplier from a collected office product and classifying the office product based on the supplier code so that the office product will be delivered to the associated supplier.

15. A management server according to claim 1, further comprising:

registration means for receiving registration requests from a plurality of supplier terminal apparatuses; and

issuing means for issuing to each registered supplier a supplier code for identifying the registered supplier and for classifying collected office products.

16. A management server according to claim 8, further comprising planning means for determining a collection area for a collection vehicle based on the collection request.

17. A management server according to claim 14, wherein the supplier code is stored in a memory of each office product.

19. A method of managing collection information according to claim 18, further comprising a determination step for determining whether the collection information has reached a predetermined condition, wherein the collection information is reported to a pre-registered destination in said reporting step if it is determined in said determination step that the collection information has reached the predetermined condition.

20. A method of managing collection information according to claim 19, wherein whether the collection information has reached the predetermined condition is determined for each type of office products in said determination step.

21. A method of managing collection information according to claim 19, further comprising:

a setting screen providing step for transmitting setting screen information for setting the predetermined condition to said information processing apparatus via the predetermined communication link; and

a storing step for receiving information regarding the predetermined condition via the predetermined communication link, the information regarding the predetermined condition being specified via a screen displayed on a display unit of said information processing apparatus based on the setting screen information, and for storing the information regarding the predetermined condition in a database;

wherein the information regarding the predetermined condition is stored for each of the plurality of suppliers in said storing step, and collection information is reported on the basis of the information regarding the predetermined condition for each of the plurality of suppliers in said reporting step.

22. A method of managing collection information according to claim 21, wherein the information regarding the predetermined condition is set for each type of office products on the setting screen displayed based on the setting screen information, and the information regarding the predetermined condition for each type of office products is stored in the database via the predetermined communication link in said storing step.

23. A method of managing collection information according to claim 22, wherein the type of office products include information regarding a type of recycling process, collection information is extracted for each type of recycling process in said extracting step, and the extracted collection information is reported to said information processing apparatus via the predetermined communication link in said reporting step.

24. A method of managing collection information according to claim 18, wherein collection information is reported to said information processing apparatus via the predetermined communication link in said reporting step in response to a request for the collection information from said information processing apparatus transmitted via the predetermined communication link.

25. A method of managing collection information according to claim 18, further comprising:

a request screen providing step for providing request screen information for allowing setting of a collection request to a second information processing apparatus communicatively linked to said management server via a predetermined communication link; and

a receiving step for receiving, via the predetermined communication link, a request for collecting office products set via a request setting screen displayed on a display unit of said second information processing apparatus based on the request screen information.

26. A method of managing collection information according to claim 25, wherein collection information is reported to said information processing apparatus in said reporting step with the collection request received in said receiving step included in the collection information.

27. A method of managing collection information according to claim 25, further comprising an associating step for associating the collection request with one of the plurality of suppliers and storing in the database, wherein collection schedule is extracted in said extracting step for the supplier associated with the identification information input in said input step, and collection information is reported to said information processing apparatus in said reporting step with the collection schedule included in the collection information.

28. A method of managing collection information according to claim 25, further comprising a record management step for managing first collection record information for each user and second collection record information for each supplier, wherein the identification information input in said input step includes information regarding the identity of a user requesting a collection in addition to information regarding the identity of a supplier, and the first collection record information or the second collection record information is selected in said reporting step according to the identification information input in said input step and collection information with the selected record information included therein is reported via the predetermined communication link.

29. A method of managing collection information according to claim 25, further comprising:

a scheduling step for determining a collection schedule in response to a collection request received from said second information processing apparatus; and

a notification step for notifying said second information processing apparatus of the collection schedule determined in said scheduling step.

30. A method of managing collection information according to claim 29, wherein a collection schedule is determined based on a request from said second information processing apparatus and requests from a plurality of information processing apparatuses in said scheduling step, and said second information processing apparatus is notified in said notification step of the collection schedule thus determined.

31. A method of managing collection information according to claim 18, further comprising a classification step for reading a supplier code for identifying an associated supplier from a collected office product and classifying the office product based on the supplier code so that the office product will be delivered to the associated supplier.

32. A method of managing collection information according to claim 18, further comprising:

a registration step for receiving registration requests from a plurality of supplier terminal apparatuses; and

an issuing step for issuing to each registered supplier a supplier code for identifying the registered supplier and for classifying collected office products.

33. A method of managing collection information according to claim 25, further comprising a planning step for determining a collection area for a collection vehicle based on the collection request.

34. A method of managing collection information according to claim 31, wherein the supplier code is stored in a memory of each office product.

35. A method of managing collection information according to claim 18, wherein each of the plurality of supplier is a person or an entity that manufactures or sells office products.

36. A method of managing collection information according to claim 18, wherein the office products include toner, ink, cartridge containing toner or ink, photoreceptor, or photosensitive unit.

18. A method of managing collection information by a management server for unitarily managing collection information for office products associated with a plurality of suppliers, said method comprising:

a management step of managing collection information of a plurality of office products for each of the plurality of suppliers;

an input step for inputting identification information identifying one of the plurality of suppliers, transmitted from an external information processing apparatus via a predetermined communication link;

an extracting step for extracting collection information associated with the identification information input in said input step; and

a reporting step for reporting the collection information extracted in said extracting step to said information processing apparatus via the predetermined communication link.

37. A program for a computer to execute a method of managing collection information by a management server for unitarily managing collection information of office products associated with a plurality of suppliers, the program comprising:

a management step for managing collection information of a plurality of office products for each of the plurality of suppliers;

an input step for inputting identification information identifying one of the plurality of suppliers, transmitted from an external information processing apparatus via a predetermined communication link;

an extracting step for extracting collection information associated with the identification information input in said input step; and

a reporting step for reporting the collection information extracted in said extracting step to said information processing apparatus via the predetermined communication link.

38. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for a computer to execute a method of managing collection information by a management server for unitarily managing collection information of office products associated with a plurality of suppliers, said program comprising:

a management step for managing collection information of a plurality of office products for each of the plurality of suppliers;

an input step for inputting identification information identifying one of the plurality of suppliers, transmitted from an external information processing apparatus via a predetermined communication link;

an extracting step for extracting collection information associated with the identification information input in said input step; and

a reporting step for reporting the collection information extracted in said extracting step to said information processing apparatus via the predetermined communication link.